Method and apparatus for common source line charge transfer

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for charge transfer comprising a resistive random access memory (ReRAM) cell, coupled to a common source voltage line (CSL) for controlling state of the ReRAM cell, and a charge transfer circuit, coupled to the memory cell through the CSL and a charge consumption circuit, for transferring charge from the CSL to the charge consumption circuit when the state of the memory cell is modified.

FIELD

Certain embodiments of the disclosure relate to resistive random accessmemory. More specifically, certain embodiments of the disclosure relateto a method and apparatus for common source line charge transfer.

BACKGROUND

The growing demand for high performance data storage and access invarious consumer electronic and computing devices has driven thedevelopment of nonvolatile memory (NVM) technologies. Resistive randomaccess memory (ReRAM) is one of alternative NVMs used because of its lowoperating voltage, high speed and scalability. ReRAM is employed incomputers, mobile computing devices, memory cards, and the like. Formore information regarding ReRAM, please see commonly assigned U.S. Pat.No. 6,867,996, hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

A ReRAM module is composed of a plurality of memory tiles. Each of thememory tiles further comprises an array of memory cells. The memorycells each represent a “bit” in memory. Each memory cell comprises,minimally, a transistor coupled to a resistive material, further coupledto a common source line voltage (CSL). The transistor is further coupledto a bit-line and a word-line. A bit is modified in the memory cellbased on the direction bias across the memory cell. For example, the“set” operation sets a high resistance to a low resistance in theresistive material of the memory cell. A “reset” operation has thepolarity of the direction bias reversed, setting a low resistance to ahigh resistance in the resistive material of the memory cell.

However, due to the small size of the memory tile in a ReRAM module andthe large number of cells in each memory tile, the CSL tends toaccumulate a large parasitic capacitance. The large parasiticcapacitance can generate parasitic oscillations in the ReRAM module,increases the rise and fall times of digital pulse signals for selectingand modifying memory cells, and can cause other unwanted side effects inthe circuit resulting in undesired and excessive power usage.

Therefore, there is a need in the art to prevent the unwanted sideeffects of the large parasitic capacitance in the CSL of ReRAM modules.

SUMMARY

An apparatus and/or method is provided for common source line chargetransfer substantially as shown in and/or described in connection withat least one of the figures, as set forth more completely in the claims.

These and other features and advantages of the present disclosure may beappreciated from a review of the following detailed description of thepresent disclosure, along with the accompanying figures in which likereference numerals refer to like parts throughout.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a depiction of a memory tile in an ReRAM module according tothe reference art;

FIG. 2 is a depiction of a charge transfer circuit in accordance withexemplary embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an illustration of SET and RESET pulses as applied to thememory cell in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is a depiction of a SET pulse according to exemplary embodimentsof the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a depiction of a RESET pulse according to exemplaryembodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Certain implementations of the invention may be found in an apparatusand/or method for common source line charge transfer in a ReRAM module.According to one embodiment, a charge transfer circuit is coupled to thecommon source line of the memory array. The large capacitance of thecommon source line is coupled to the charge transfer circuit, and thecharge transfer circuit consumes the excess charge as current, thereforedischarging the common source line.

To understand the structure of the ReRAM module of the presentinvention, a ReRAM module of the background art will be described forpurposes of comparison.

FIG. 1 is a depiction of a ReRAM module 100 according to the backgroundart. The ReRAM module 100 comprises a plurality of memory tiles 101 ₁ to101 _(n) (where n is an integer). The memory tile 101 ₂, for example,comprises an array of m memory cells (where m is an integer), one ofwhich is memory cell 102. The memory cell 102 is an exemplary depictionof one of the memory cells of the array of memory cells on the memorytile 101. The memory cell 102 comprises a switch 104 coupled to avariable resistance material (R) 106.

The gate of the switch 104 is coupled to the word line (WL) 112. Thesource of the switch 104 is coupled to the bit line (BL) 110. R 106 isfurther coupled to the common source line (CSL) 108. The CSL 108 iscommon to all memory cells within the memory tile 101, i.e., allvariable resistance materials in each cell are coupled to the CSL 108.According to some embodiments, R 106 comprises Dual-layered conductivebridge elements that employ Copper Tellurium (CuTe) based conductivematerial and Gadolinium Oxide (GdOx) thin insulators.

R 106 can occupy a high resistance state (HRS) or a low resistance state(LRS), corresponding to whether the memory cell 102 is considered “on”or “off”. R 106 comprises top and bottom electrodes and allows bipolarswitching where a HRS turns into a LRS when the top electrode ispositively biased and turning a LRS state to a HRS state when the bottomelectrode is positively biased. The top electrode forms a plate coveringhalf of the memory cell 102, for example. Bringing the resistance of R106 from HRS to LRS is defined as a “SET” operation. Bringing theresistance of R 106 from LRS to an HRS is defined as “RESET” operationon the memory cell 102.

In an idle state (no SET or RESET operation) of the memory cell 102, CSL108, BL 110 and WL 112 are grounded to reduce the current (i.e., are ata LOW voltage state ˜0V). Once a RESET operation is invoked, BL 110 andWL 112, which have low parasitic capacitance, are set to a HIGH voltage(for example, 5V) while CSL 108 remains at a stable voltage, i.e. 0V.Varying BL 110 and WL 112 requires a small amount of energy because BLand WL are only common to cells along the direction of the BL and WL,i.e., they have a low capacitance. For a RESET operation, only a smallamount of energy is expended because only BL 110 and WL 112 aremodified.

However, moving from an idle state to a SET operation (using a SETpulse), initially CSL 108 is set to a HIGH voltage state, BL 110 must beset to a HIGH voltage state, while WL is in a LOW voltage state. Next,during the SET operation, WL is also set to a HIGH voltage state, due toa voltage offset between CSL 108 and the BL 110.

Subsequently, during the SET operation, BL 110 is set to a LOW voltagestate, while CSL 108 and WL 112 remain HIGH. After the completion of theSET pulse, the CSL 108, BL 110 and WL 112 are all set to idle stateconditions, i.e., CSL 108, BL 110 and WL 112 are grounded. However, inthe background art depicted in FIG. 1, because of the large parasiticcapacitance accumulated in CSL 108, grounding CSL 108 involvesdischarging CSL 108, requiring a large amount of power usage. Since theReRAM module is generally used in low power mobile device, these devicesare negatively impacted by large power consumption.

FIG. 2 is a depiction of a charge transfer circuit 200 in accordancewith exemplary embodiments of the present invention, coupled to twomemory cells 201 and 252. Two memory cells are depicted in FIG. 2 toshow the commonality of the common source line 201. The charge transfercircuit 200 comprises a first switch 220, a second switch 222 and athird switch 224, for consuming the capacitance accumulated in the CSL201 coupled to a first memory cell 201 and a second memory cell 253 ascurrent to supply to a charge consumption circuit 260. According to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention, the charge consumptioncircuit (CCC) 260 may be any other circuit of the ReRAM module coupledat the source of switch 220. According to an exemplary embodiment, theCCC 260 may comprise any circuit in the ReRAM module.

According to one example, 500 pF of capacitance is accumulated on theCSL 201, VSET is 3V and VCC is 1V. VSET is the voltage at the source ofswitch 214 and VCC is the voltage of the CCC 260. CCC normally consumes5 mA and the CSL 201 charge-discharge cycle is 1 μs. In this example,the charge from the CSL 201 can be transferred to the CCC 260 accordingto: 500 pF*(3V−1V). The current deduced from the CSL 201 will then be500 pF*(3V−1V)/1 μs=1 mA. The 1 mA is used for VCC current consumption.Accordingly, the actual current consumption of CCC 260 (5 mA−1 mA)=4 mA.

The memory cell 201 comprises a switch 202 coupled to a resistiveelement 203 and the memory cell 253 comprises a switch 204 coupled to aresistive element 205. Each of the memory cells 201 and 253 behavesimilarly, and the operation of memory cell 201 will be described below.In the following discussion HIGH refers to a high voltage level, forexample, 5V or 3V, whereas LOW refers to a low voltage level, forexample, 0V. According to other embodiments, other voltages may be used,as known to those of ordinary skill in the art.

For memory cell 201, the gate of the switch 202 is coupled to the wordline 0 (WL0) 210. The source of switch 202 is coupled to the bit line(BL) 208. The resistive element 203 is coupled to the common source line201, which, according to an exemplary embodiment is at 0V in an idlestate. In memory cell 253, the gate of the switch 204 is coupled to theword line 1 (WL1) 212. The source of switch 204 is coupled to the bitline (BL) 208. The resistive element 205 is also coupled to the commonsource line 201. Accordingly, it can be seen that the memory cell 201and the memory cell 253 share the CSL 201 as well as the BL 208, but arecoupled to two different word lines, WL0 210 and WL1 212, respectively.The BL 208 is only shared across memory cells arranged in a particularmemory tile, but the CSL 201 is shared across all memory cells andmemory tiles contained in a ReRAM module.

The BL 208 is further coupled to a multiplexer (MUX) 250 for selectingthe memory cell within a memory tile, and applying a pulse as shown inFIG. 3, respectively as pulse 302 and 304. The MUX 250 is coupled to theBL control circuit 255. Specifically, the MUX 250 is coupled to thesource/drain terminals of switch 214, switch 216 and switch 218 of theBL control circuit 255. According to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention, switch 214 and switch 216 are PMOS switches andswitch 218 is an NMOS switch.

The switch 218 is couple to ground at the drain. The switch 214 and 218drive the BL 208 from VSET (i.e., 3V) to VSS (ground voltage ˜0V). Theswitch 216 is coupled to a VRESET voltage at the source of switch 216.The gate of the switch 216 is coupled to BLDRV_VRESET, a RESET voltagesource. The switches 214, 216 and 218 are connected in parallel.

The voltage VSET is higher than the voltage VCC because VSET is used tooperate memory cell 201 and memory cell 253. For example, VSET may be3V, and VCC may be 1V. VCC is required for the logic operation of thecharge transfer circuit 200; specifically, switches 220, 222 and 224.According to one embodiment the BLDRV_VSET (a SET voltage source) isinput the SET pulse 300 as shown in FIG. 3 to set the memory cell 201from idle state or the RESET pulse 302 to reset the memory cell to idlestate. The SET operation is described in more detail with respect toFIG. 5 below.

A charge transfer control circuit 270 can optionally be coupled tocharge transfer circuit 200 to detect whether the capacitance from CSL201 is too high for the charge consumption circuit 260 of FIG. 2. If thecapacitance from CSL 201 is excessive, the circuit 270 cuts off thecharge transfer from CSL 201 to the CTC 260 via the charge transfercircuit 200 to prevent damage to the CTC 260.

For example, charge consumption circuit 260 is expected to remain belowa certain voltage threshold, for example, 1.2V. If the amount of currentconsumption of the charge consumption circuit VCC is less than thecharge from CSL 201, the voltage consumed by the charge consumptioncircuit 260, VCC, will exceed the threshold value, and the circuit 270prevents the charge from being transferred from CSL 201 to the chargeconsumption circuit 260.

The gate of the switch 220 is coupled to the circuit 270. The circuit270 determines if VCC is greater than VREF. If VCC is greater than VREF,the charge transfer is prevented by opening the switch 220 by applying aLOW voltage at the gate of switch 220.

The circuit 270 is comprised of an operational amplifier (op amp) 272, aNAND logic gate 274 and an inverter 276. The op amp 272 compares VREFand VCC to determine if VCC is greater than VREF (for example, 1.2V). IfVREF is greater than VCC, the op amp 272 output goes to HIGH.

The NAND gate 274 takes the HIGH as input, and CSL_VCC_EN as input.Since one input of the NAND gate 274 is HIGH and CSL_VCC_EN is high, theoutput of the NAND gate 274 is LOW. The inverter 406 inverts the outputto HIGH, which in turn is coupled to the gate of switch 220, causing theswitch 220 to close, coupling VCC to CSL 201 and allowing the chargetransfer.

However, if VCC is greater than VREF, the op amp 272 goes to LOW. TheNAND gate 274 takes the LOW as input and CSL_VCC_EN as input. SinceCSL_VCC_EN is HIGH, the NAND gate 274 outputs HIGH to the inverter 276.The inverter 276 inverts the input and outputs a LOW signal to the gateof switch 220. A LOW signal at gate 220 opens the gate 220, decouplingVCC from CSL 201, and preventing the CSL 201 charge transfer to VCC.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of the pulse outputs and inputs at variouspoints in the memory cell 201 as shown in FIG. 2 for a SET operation.Pulse 402 is the CSL_SET_EN pulse applied at the gate of switch 224.Pulse 404 is the CSL_VSS_EN pulse at the gate of switch 222. Pulse 406is the CSL_VCC_EN pulse at the gate of the switch 220, i.e. this is thegate voltage between VCC and CSL 201. In the present invention, when CSL201 is discharged at region 518, the discharge initially goes to the VCCcircuit, depicted by the CSL_VCC_EN going high at point t4.

Pulse 408 is the BLDRV_VSET pulse applied at the gate of switch 214.Pulse 410 is the LDRV_VSS pulse at the gate of switch 218. Pulse 412 isthe pulse applied to the BL 208. Pulse 414 is the pulse applied at theCSL 201. Note that instead of a sharp cut-off in region 418, there is asmoothed current consumption, i.e., the charge of the CSL 201 istransferred to VCC.

In order to perform a SET operation, CSL_SET_EN 402 and CSL_VSS_EN 404control the CSL pulse 516, i.e., set CSL 201 to VSS (ground voltage) orVSET (i.e., 3V). At time t1, CSL_SET_EN 402, CSL_VSS_EN 404, BLDRV_VSET406 and LDRV_VSS 408 go LOW in order to make BL 208 and CSL 201 go HIGH.At time t2, BLDRV_VSET and LDRV_VSS go to HIGH, in order to make BL 208go to LOW.

At time t3, BLDRV_VSET and LDRV_VSS go to LOW to make the BL 208 goHIGH. At time t4, BLDRV_VSET goes to HIGH, while LDRV_VSS stays LOW,causing CSL pulse 416 to transfer charge from CSL 201 to VCC, i.e.,CSL_VCC_EN, pulse 406. Finally, at time t5, LDRV_VSS goes to HIGH whileBLDRV_VSET remains HIGH to return BL 208 to LOW.

The control voltage CSL_SET_EN is applied to the gate of switch 224 tocontrol operation of switch 224. The control voltage CSL_VSS_EN isapplied to the gate of switch 222 to control operation of switch 222. Ifthe pulse at the gate of switch 224 is initially HIGH and the pulse atthe gate of switch 222 is initially HIGH (as shown in FIG. 5), theswitch 224 will be closed and the switch 222 will be open causing thememory cell 201 to be operated with the voltage VSET. After the SEToperation, switch 222 allows the memory cell 201 to return to an idlestate by setting CSL_VSS_EN to HIGH, closing switch 222 and coupling CSL201 to ground. According to an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention, switch 224 is a PMOS switch, switch 222 is an NMOS switch andswitch 220 is an NMOS switch.

However, when CSL_VCC_EN goes HIGH, CSL_VSS_EN also goes LOW. CSL_SET_ENis then HIGH, causing the switch 220 to be open. CSL_VCC_EN is the gatevoltage between VCC and CSL. The circuit 260 therefore consumes thecurrent generated from the CSL 201 capacitance.

FIG. 5 is a depiction of a RESET pulse according to exemplaryembodiments of the present invention. According to FIG. 5, whenBLDRV_VRESET pulse 502 goes LOW, BL 208 (shown as BL pulse 514) iscoupled from VSS to VRESET through the open switch 216, and the RESETdirection bias will be applied to the memory cell 201 (while pulseBLDRV_VSET 510 is HIGH).

The control voltage CSL_SET_EN pulse 504 is applied to the gate ofswitch 224 to control operation of switch 224. The control voltageCSL_VSS_EN pulse 506 is applied to the gate of switch 222 to controloperation of switch 222. If the pulse at the gate of switch 224 isinitially HIGH and the pulse at the gate of switch 222 is initially HIGH(as shown in FIG. 5), the switch 224 will be closed and the switch 222will be open causing the memory cell 201 to be operated with the voltageVSET. During the RESET operation, switch 222 allows the memory cell 201to return to an idle state by setting CSL_VSS_EN pulse 506 to HIGH,closing switch 222 and coupling CSL 201 (shown as pulse 516) to ground.According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, switch224 is a PMOS switch, switch 222 is an NMOS switch and switch 220 is anNMOS switch.

When CSL_VCC_EN pulse 508 goes LOW, CSL_VSS_EN goes HIGH. CSL_SET_ENpulse 504 is then HIGH, causing the switch 222 to be open, thereforecoupling the CSL 201 to ground. The circuit 260 therefore does notperform any current transfer to the CCC 260 n. LRDV_VSS pulse 512 isHIGH at time t1, goes to LOW at time t2, and remains at LOW until timet3. At time t3, LDRV_VSS then goes to HIGH again.

While the present disclosure has been described with reference tocertain embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the artthat various changes may be made and equivalents may be substitutedwithout departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In addition,many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation ormaterial to the teachings of the present disclosure without departingfrom its scope. Therefore, it is intended that the present disclosurenot be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed, but that thepresent disclosure will include all embodiments falling within the scopeof the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for charge transfer comprising: aresistive random access memory (ReRAM) cell, coupled to a common sourcevoltage line (CSL) for controlling state of the ReRAM cell; and a chargetransfer circuit, coupled to the memory cell through the CSL and acharge consumption circuit, for transferring charge from the CSL to thecharge consumption circuit when the state of the memory cell ismodified.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, the charge transfer circuitfurther comprising: a first switch coupled to the CSL at a drain of thefirst switch and coupled to the charge consumption circuit with avoltage VCC at a source of the first switch; a second switch having adrain coupled to the CSL; and a third switch having a source coupled tothe CSL, and a drain coupled to ground.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2wherein the voltage at the source of the third switch is greater thanthe voltage at the source of the first switch.
 4. The apparatus of claim2 further comprising: a charge transfer control circuit coupled at agate of the third switch for preventing an excessive charge from beingtransferred to the charge consumption circuit.
 5. The apparatus of claim2 wherein the VCC is approximately 1V.
 6. The apparatus of claim 4,wherein the charge transfer control circuit comprises: an operationalamplifier (op amp) taking as input, a reference voltage and VCC; a NANDgate, coupled to the op amp, taking as input, the output of the op ampand a control signal for the third switch; and an inverter, forinverting the output of the NAND gate.
 7. The apparatus of claim 6 wherethe reference voltage is approximately 1.2V.
 8. The apparatus of claim2, wherein the first switch is an NMOS transistor, the second switch isa PMOS transistor and the third switch is a PMOS transistor.
 9. Theapparatus of claim 8 wherein the source of the first switch is coupledto a voltage VSET for a SET operation and the drain of the second switchis grounded.
 10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein VSET is approximately3V.
 11. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the charge is accumulated by aparasitic capacitance of the CSL.
 12. The apparatus of claim 1 furthercomprising: a multiplexer coupled to the memory cell; a bit-line controlcircuit coupled to the multiplexer, for setting or resetting the memorycell.
 13. The apparatus of claim 12 further comprising: wherein thebit-line control circuit comprises a first transistor, a secondtransistor and a third transistor coupled in parallel to themultiplexer.
 14. The apparatus of claim 13 further comprising: whereinthe first transistor is a PMOS transistor, the second transistor is aPMOS transistor, and the third transistor is an NMOS transistor.
 15. Theapparatus of claim 14 further comprising: wherein the gate of the firsttransistor is coupled to a first pulse for a SET operation of the memorycell and the source of the first transistor is coupled to a voltageVSET, the gate of the second transistor is coupled to a second pulse fora RESET operation of the memory cell and the source of the secondtransistor is coupled to a voltage VRESET, and the gate of the thirdtransistor is coupled to a third pulse and the drain of the thirdtransistor is coupled to ground and, wherein the drain of the firsttransistor is coupled to the drain of the second transistor, furthercoupled to the source of the third transistor.
 16. A method for chargetransfer comprising: detecting, using a charge transfer control circuit,whether a voltage of the charge consumption circuit (VCC) is higher thana threshold voltage (VREF); transferring, using the charge transfercircuit, a charge generated on a common source line (CSL) of the ReRAMcell to the charge consumption circuit when VREF is equal to or greaterthan VCC; and terminating, using the charge transfer control circuit,the charge transfer from the CSL to the charge consumption circuit whenVCC is greater than VREF.
 17. The method of claim 16 wherein the chargeis accumulated by a parasitic capacitance of the CSL.
 18. The method ofclaim 16 further comprising: operating the memory cell with a firstvoltage; and operating the charge transfer circuit with a secondvoltage, less than the first voltage.
 19. The method of claim 16 whereinVREF is approximately 1.2V and VCC is approximately 1V.
 20. The methodof claim 16 further comprising: forming the charge transfer circuit by:coupling a first NMOS switch to the CSL at a drain of the first NMOSswitch; coupling a first PMOS switch to the CSL at a drain of the firstPMOS switch; and coupling a second NMOS switch to the CSL at a source ofthe second NMOS switch, and coupling a drain of the second NMOS switchto ground.